Ed S

I recently joined Blindman's Blue Forum. Got a nice welcome and have enjoyed browsing the various threads. Seems like a real nice board.

Hmmmm................. Buffalo....................... Back under deep cover.

Hope you have a great time! Let us know.

Sad news indeed. Condolences to his family and friends.

I to had a lot of their 70s stuff. I've been looking for 2nd Crusade for a while now - thanks for posting the info.

Thanks for the good wishes Dan. What a difference a year makes. BTW, your kindness during my dark days went a long way. Can't argue with the watered down Blues stuff. Thankfully, I never saw the MTV thing. I prefer to think f it as a kick-ass song. Helped to rekindle my interest in the blues, even if it's not all that bluesy. Funny thing is, I heard about the Fabulous Thunderbirds long before I ever heard of Stevie Ray Vaughan. Talk about living under a rock.

Probably over 100 by now, but I have not counted for a while. I have to say that I am one of those who has bought sets as my forst exposure to an artist. After quickly getting the picture about Mosaic with my first few sets, I used Mosaic to introduce me to Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Flip Phillips and Chatlie Ventura, Serge Chaloff, Mildred Bailey, Django Rheinhart, Stuff Smith, Anita Oday, Buck Clayton and probably a dozen others. I guess I'm atypical in that regard but I also know my buying habits. I'll buy something buy someome and enjoy it - then I'll go out and get as much as I can by the same guy. Mosaic really helps in that regard as I can get a bunch of quality material all at once. I really don't care all that much about the complete aspect. It's nice, but not the only reason I go after a set.

Have to agree about Wilson - though I never really appreciated how talented he is 'til I heard them live the other day. Put on quite a show.

They had two guitarists. The new guy's name is Nick Curran. He took most of the guitar solos and sang a few songs. I did not really enjoy his vocals as he seemed to be screaming not singing. But they weren't that awful and gave Kim Wilson a chance to play the harmonica. The other guy's name is Kirk Fletcher. Mostly rhythm, but added some tasty solos on the straight blues stuff. Speaking of Los Lobos, they are the last band to play the free Tuesday series on the 29th.

If I was going on a short trip to Montreal...... Old Montreal of course. You can easily spend a day just walking around the streets, shopping in the boutiques and souvenir stores and finding a nice restaurant. There's a nice outdoor restaurant that features crepes called the Jardin Nelson. It's right behind the Hotel Nelson on Place Jacques Cartier. It gets kind of crowded though and I did not bother to try during my most recent trip. Instead I found a couple other places that served a nice casual lunch. There's this local chain called the 3 brasseurs or something like that that has a nice pubby feel and a nice selection of micro brews if beer's your thing. If you're tired, you can cool your feet off in the fountain next to the old city hall. There's a nice view of the modern downtown from there. I'd also recommend hanging in the Old Montreal area after dark - very pretty and romantic. Lots of bars open with entertainment. Parking seemed like it was next to impossible to find though. I'd walk, take a cab or the metro. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has a very nice collection. The permanent collection is free, though they do ask for a donation. If you're on Sherbrooke in an art gallery area, I'm guessing that's going to be near the Art Museum - which means you'll be near Crescent St. It's a very pretty street with lots of restaurants. Over the years I've done the Winston Churchill Pub, the Hard Rock Cafe, the restaurant right next to Winnie's and a few others on Crescent. All decent. This year I found an Irish pub that had a great selection of beer and a pretty good steak sandwich with fresh cut fries. A walk up Rue St Catherine is good if you or your wife like to shop. Tons of stores and people. The HMV isn't too far from St Catherine and Crescent. The Botanical Garden is outstanding and worth a visit if you have the time. The biodome across the street in the Olympic park is nice too. You can also visit Mont Royal Park. Take a picnic lunch and and either hang out by Lac Castor or take the path up to the belvedere that overlooks the city. It's an outstanding view and nice way to spend some time together. The St Joseph Oratory was sort of cool. I'm not religious but enjoyed walking through it. If it's raining out - there's an IMAX theatre right downtown. You could try Biddles for jazz. I've never been there but have heard good things. Not sure if anything has changed since Charlie Biddle died a couple of years ago. There's always the Casino too. I've never been to it though I've read that it's nice. That's all I can think of for now.

Does he really have a street team? I thought it was a joke

Big Fan. Perhaps my Polish heritage plays a role but I dig this guy. Street Team!

I was Gilbert Arenas too. Never heard of the guy. In fact, I didn't even know he was a guy until I googled him. Guess I'm not an NBA fan.

Anyone heard from Victor Christensen (sp) lately? He's a board member who lives in Copenhagen who might be able to help.

Just saw this thread.....when are you going? I've traveled to Montreal at least once a year for the past 15 years. If you have not gone and still need some ideas, I'll be happy to post some. Let me know in this thread or via PM

Artpark is one of those outdoor performing arts centers that are pretty ubiquitous. It's located in a beautiful setting - in Lewiston NY at the mouth of the Niagara River. This event took place at their outdoor amphitheatre and was part of the free concert series held there every Tuesday during the summer. The backdrop was a beautifully treed gorge that actually resides in Canada - just across the river. Atop that gorge is a monument to General Isaac Brock - a British/Canadian hero of the war of 1812. It looks quite stunning up there and serves as a reminder of more tempestuous times in US - Canada/British relations. The Niagara River, meandering at this point at its mouth near Lake Ontario is directly behind the stage. Look to the right and there's the view of a beautiful sunset as the sun settles behind the trees and gorge on the US side of the river. Look to the left, and up - there's the graceful arch Lewiston-Queenston Bridge that connects the US and Canada...and a lot of smoke. To the left and at ground level is the source of that smoke - the grill/food area - hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecued pork, beef, fries and of course beer. It's about as ideal a setting for an outdoor concert as there is. Not to mention that the weather is perfect - about 78 degrees, cloudless sky and a slight breeze. The company was equally perfect. My girlfriend of now some 9 months - a blues fan for sure and a jazz fan too (........or at least a jazz tolerater). The band was good. Not great, but good. Very good at some points. A lot of their stuff was more bluesy rock and roll than straight blues, but if you know them that's no surprise. They did a few really nice blues songs though and I have to say that Kim Wilson's harmonica stuff was real nice. I was not that impressed with the new guitarist who is so highly touted on their website as the impetus behind their return to their roots. Biggest disappointment was the song "Wrap it Up" And it's not that big a disappointment at all really. It's just that they were REALLY starting to stretch out on this one in jam band fashion when all of a sudden then pulled it in and wrapped it up with a final chorus. Wish they'd taken that one another 15 minutes they way they were groovin'. Of course they did Tuff Enuff and as I dig that tune..... I dug that tune. The highlight was a straight blues during which they really stretched out - 10-12 minutes - featuring a real nice harmonica solo by Wilson. All in all - whether it was the venue , the company or the band it sure was a lot of fun. If you dig the blues/bluesy rock/rock and roll - they're a good bet for a good show.

FWIW - and that's probably not much, The Grand Evenement at this years Montreal Jazz Festival was a tribute to Paul Simon. The Grand Evenement is a huge show held mid festival that usually draws in the area of 100,000 people. A couple of years ago they had the Pat Metheny Group. I've also seen a tribute to Louis Armstrong, music of Cirque du Soleil. They had a huge Cajun/Bayou night a few years back as well. Like I said, FWIW Carry on..................

I don't think they're that big in the eye of the general public. Basically a two hit wonder back in the 80's (Wrap It Up and Tuff Enuff). I think they lost alot of people's interest after Jimmie Vaughan left, too, as that was a large part of their appeal...."SRV's brother's band". I'd guess the only thing your normal B&M would even consider stocking by these guys is a compilation. I suppose.......and your point is borne out by my experience today.

A "one stop" is between a distributor and a retail store if the store doesn't do enough business to "earn" an account with a distributor/label. Most indie stores buy from one stops. A rack jobber is a one stop with connections to put "product" in non music stores such as drug stores, dept stores, etc. All worthy enterprises in the day. Thanks!

Strong recommendation for Gianluca Petrella - Indigo. A recent Blue Note release.

Can't argue with that. The other side of my disappointing experience is how grateful I am for internet CD stores.

Back in my retail days, Record Theatre was owned by a "one-stop/rack jobber" in Albany. They supplied all the inventory at their whim back in the '70s. Can't imagine it is much different now. I'm not sure what a "one stop/jack robber" is, but I'm guessing it is not complimentary. That being said, the store always had tons of the kind of stuff I was interested in buying back in my younger days. These days, the stores pretty much suck. I can't believe they are still in business. The views of both then and now are of course strictly through the eyes of an uneducated consumer who is unaware of what shenanigans might have been going on behind the scenes.

Having recently gone through this sort of scenario, I did a lot of pre-warning about the size of my CD collection and my love of jazz of all styles. I went so far as to give her a sampling of my sizable CD collection and lent her some CDs. When she finally came over and actually saw the size of my CD collection, I know she was impressed - though I'm not sure whether it was positively or negatively. I have to say that no longer being what I call a "jazzhole" really went a long way in her acceptance of my jazz leanings. Some of the early stuff I lent her - Miles Davis Quintet with Shorter, Hancock et all, Maiden Voyage, Coltrane's early Impulse stuff, some Scofield and Organissimo. The first stuff I ever plyed for her - Pat Metheny Group.

You're probably spot on. But that's the kind of thinking and way of operating that's helping to kill the b and m's in my opinion. What I did not mention is that I went out of my way on my way home to stop at a second music store - a local outfit called Record Theatre. They used to be THE place to buy music in the Buffalo area and are the kind of place where you'd think you'd find the Fabulous Thunderbirds or Jimmie Vaughan somewhere - rock or blues. But nothing at all by either artist in either section. Lots of wasted gas and plenty disappointed.

I'm going to see the Fabulous Thunderbirds tomorrow night. I'm familiar with some of their stuff and have the live album done around 2001 but was wondering what else they've been up to lately. So I went to their website and saw that they released a new disc last year. Based on some review I've read, it's their best since before they hit it big with Tuff Enuff, bla bla bla. So I decided to head out to my nearest brick and mortar for some instant gratification on the way home from work. It's a Borders and it has about the biggest selection of music in the area in spite of the entire music dept having been shrunk in the past year during a major remodeling. Well, their Blues section is abyssmal. I thought jazz was bad. The New Age section was bigger. There's no spot for Fabulous Thunderbirds at all, not even in the alphabetical section. So I tried rock and sure enuff - there's a slot for Fabulous Thunderbirds, but nothing there. I did find a greatest hits collection out of order a couple of slots later. So then I figure I'll pick up something by Jimmie Vaughan. Yes I know he's not in the band. I saw some links and reviews for his latest while cruising around the Thunderbirds allmusic bio. Sounded appealling. Go to the Blues. No Jimmie Vaughan section. No Stevie Ray either - so I head over to rock. Of course Stevie is there but no Jimmie Vaughan section. Nothing. Nada. These guys aren't exactly flying under the radar. Plus, you'd think that some buyer might check out who's coming to town and have at least a couple of these in stock. Am I wrong or are the Fabulous Thunderbirds sort of, um, well known. Plus they are playing in a free concert in a Tuesday in the park sort of thing that routinely draws between 5,000 - 10,000 people. I guess I should not be that surprised, but jeez - I am pretty disappointed.